The Effects of the Cold?
by StarShipDelta
Summary: The socalled Blanket Scenerio like you've never seen it before. Saitou and Chou find themselves stuck out in the cold... [NOT SLASH]


_Disclaimer: It's not mine. Which after this most people will probably be glad of. Chou and Saitou belong to Watsuki. Shima is SpaceRoses' (my sister). I'm just borrowing all of them. _

_My sister gave me a challenge. She wanted: _

_A twist on the typical blanket scenario (2 people, 1 blanket, but she didn't want the usual outcome) _

_Two people thinking they might die confessing their true feelings for each other. _

_However she gave me no more details then this. This piece of weird irreverence came out. She should know better then to turn my insanity loose on an idea like this…maybe a bit OOC, but I tried to keep the essence of the characters intact._

* * *

**Effects of the Cold?**

The snowstorm had come up more suddenly then expected, leaving two of the police forces'…ahem…finest out in it.

Neither could see anything, and who knows what would have happened to them if one of them hadn't run face first into the wall. This was followed a few moments later by the same man feeling his way forward and literally crashing through the doorway as he leaned on it too hard, and it gave way. Muttering a stream of curses that were lost on the wind he scrambled to his feet to be out of the way of his companion who'd followed him in.

On his feet Chou shook himself off, sending a flurry of wet snowflakes showering onto a scowling, dripping Saitou. "Would you do that elsewhere?"

Chou grinned. "Sorry."

Saitou looked around, it seemed they were in some kind of shed, poorly made at that. Wind whistled through the cracks in the walls, the building creaked ominously each time it did, and snow continued to blow in through the now open door. But it was better then being in the snow, for now at least. If he could get that door closed. But as he tried he found that the hinges on the door were broken from Chou's fall through them. Saitou finally turned to him, glaring as usual as he held the door closed.

"Don't just stand there moron, find something to fix the door with!"

Chou muttered to himself again as he found a length of fraying rope that they managed to tie the door shut with, but still that only eliminated one problem. They were still wet, cold, and in a drafty building.

Chou started to look around for anything of interest, while Saitou gathered some chunks of wood into the middle of the room, to start a fire. Pulling out his book of matches he tried to light one, only to find it too wet to use. A second proved no better, and the third did light, but all it did was smolder out against the wet wood. Saitou scowled at the pile of smoldering wood and pulled out a damp cigarette. No sooner had he managed to get a match lit and held to the cigarette, then it too went out. By now he was looking silently furious, his mouth twisted into a deep scowl, and his eyes narrowed and glaring at the wood in a way that would have killed anything alive.

Which unfortunately was Chou. "Hey, look what ah found…Argh! Whatcha glaring at me for?"

"What. Do. You. Want?" Saitou asked through gritted teeth, still clamped around his cigarette.

"Ah found a blanket. There's only one though…and it looks like something was eatin' it." Chou held up a worn, holey blanket.

Saitou only growled something unintelligible before turning back to his wood.

"Looks like we might have ta share it." Chou mused, still looking at the blanket through his typical one-eyed squint.

"No way in hell." Saitou snapped back. He would freeze before he would share a blanket with that broom-headed idiot.

"Fine with me." Chou smirked, wrapping the blanket around his shoulders and sitting down to watch Saitou's less then successful fire building skills with amusement. Saitou was meanwhile growing very annoyed with his so-called partner, who just sat there, continuing to smirk.

Saitou turned and glared at him. "Give me that!" He grabbed the blanket, pulling it away.

"Hey!" Chou protested as Saitou pulled his katana and cut the blanket raggedly in half. He threw half back at Chou before wrapping the other half around his shoulders. Sacrificing just a little of his pride was better then freezing to death.

Time ticked on late into the night, Saitou glaring, Chou smirking, and the temperature getting rapidly colder. The storm showed signs of letting up, but it was anyone's guess how long they'd have to be there, if it got much colder, it wouldn't be much longer.

Chou finally broke the silence. "We're gonna die…aren't we?"

Saitou's scowl deepened, if that was possible. "We are not going to die moron."

Another long silence.

"If we're gonna die, Ah wanna tell you somethin'."

Saitou looked hard at Chou, not liking how this was sounding. "If you are going to tell me you love me, then I'm going to throw you out into the nearest snow drift."

Both Chou's eyes shot open, and he looked somewhere between indignant and sick. "Wha! Absolutely not! Ah wanted to tell you how much Ah **_hated _**you!"

Saitou didn't look at all fazed by this, as Chou kept going. "Ah hate working with ya, and Ah'd just as soon not have ta! Yer always criticizing me, and callin' me names and Ah'm not gonna take it no more! You know exactly where you can put mah job!"

Saitou just looked at him with no expression on his face. "If it helps I really can't stand you either. You are irritating, rude, clueless, and act exactly like that rooster-headed moron the Battousai spends time around."

He ignored Chou's indignant expression.

"So firing you would make me pleased." Saitou finished.

Chou blinked.

"And I cannot stand your hair. Ever since the first day I saw you I have wanted to cut it off completely with my katana." Saitou stated matter of factly.

Chou blinked again, and looked indignant. "Mah Hair! Don't touch mah hair!"

Suddenly there was a rattling at the door and it again fell down, to show several other members of the police force in the doorway. A young officer pushed his way to the front, relief covering his features as he looked in at the two men inside.

"There you are! When you didn't come back in last night we grew a bit worried!" The young officer, Shima, grinned at them both. "We came out to find you, to make sure you were alright."

Saitou suppressed a groan, he was never going to live this one down, he was sure of it.

Chou looked back at Saitou, grinning sheepishly. "Er, Saitou-san…about what Ah said earlier…Musta been the effects of the cold…"

Saitou just glared at him.

"So…eh…do Ah still have a job?"


End file.
